Coin controlled lock mechanism



Nov. 1 9, 1940. G. HOFMANN COIN CONTROLLED LOCK MECHANISM Filed April 51957 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1110677 i01 -GEO ,eGE HOFM/INN Nov. 19, 1940. e.HOFMANN CQIN CONTROLLED LOCK MECHANISM Filed April 5 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet2 171 0677 i0 1 650/395 HOFM/I/VN Patented Nov. 19, 1940 warren sra'rasPATENT OFFICE C'QIN CONTROLLED LOCK MECHANISM Ware Application April 5,1937, Serial No. 134,959

2 Claims.

This invention relates to coin controlled lock mechanisms of the typedisclosed in Patents Nos. 1,640,605 and 1,933,263, and the primaryobject of the invention is the production of a lock mechanism of thisnature having various novel improvements which render it superior tolike mechanisms heretofore known.

These lock mechanisms are used on checking and vending cabinets and areoperative for checking and vending purposes upon the insertion of acoin. Each such lock mechanism includes a body member'within and onwhich are mounted not only the coin controlled lock but also a secondlock arranged to secure such mechanism in and to the cabinet.Occasionally and for various reasons it becomes necessary to changeeither the coin controlled lock or the said second look, and heretoforeeither requirement has necessitated the changing of the entire lockmechanism due to the substantial integral mounting of the second lockthereon. One object of my invention herein is the production of animproved mechanism wherein one or the other of such locks can be changedwithout requiring the changing of the other lock.

These coin controlled locks are adapted normally to remain either in thelocked or unlocked position, but in the construction heretofore employedit has occasionally happened that the lock would inadvertently move fromthat position and thereby permit unauthorized operation thereof withoutthe insertion of a coin. A further object of my invention is a novelimprovement wherein such inadvertent movement is rendered impossible.

It is well known that recording or counting mechanism is combined withthe coin controlled lock to record each actuation thereof wherebyregistering the number of coins deposited. Heretofore no resettingmechanism has been incorporated in the recorder since such mechanismwould permit the collector to fraudulently reset the recorder to afictitious position other than that showing the number of coins actuallydeposited. A further novel feature of the invention relates to amechanism for resetting the recorder whenever such action becomesnecessary and to further mechanism for preventing unauthorized operationof such mechanism.

These and other features of the invention will be best understood andappreciated from the following description of a preferred embodimentthereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in theaccompanying drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a cabinet employing my improved lockmechanism,

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken on line 22 of Fig. 1 and showing thelock mechanism in side elevation,

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2 and showing thelock mechanism in front elevation,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line ii-4 of Fig. 2, i m

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 3 and showing thelock mechanism in plan View,

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on line 6--6 of Fig. 2 and showing thelock mechanism in rear elevation,

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line 1l of Fig. 2,

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 3,

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the recorder showing the rear portionthereof in section,

Fig. 10 is a perspective View of the rearmost and units counter,

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the inner face of a closure member forthe recorder.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, it] indicates a bank ofcoin controlled checking cabinets, and 12 the closure door of one of thecabinets. The lock mechanism It is secured to a marginal portion of thecabinet in position to cooperate with and lock the door. This lockmechanism comprises a body member l5 having a front plate It securedthereto by bolts I8. The front plate is disposed over and fills anopening 85 through the cabinet wall, the lower end of the plate beingprovided with a lip l9 engaging behind the cabinet wall and the upperend being equipped with a lock 20 having a lock bolt 2| for engagingbehind the cabinet wall (Fig. 2).

The cylinder of the lock 20 is adapted to rest in the lower half 22 of acradle formed on the top end of the member It, the upper half 24 of thecradle being an independent piece and having a sliding dove-tailed fitinto the member I5 at ,45 25. The cylinder shell is prevented fromrotating by a laterally projecting and tumbler-containing arm 26, and aspring 28 keeps the lock in its foremost position. The portion 24 of thecradle is secured to the member i5 by the upper bolts I8 engaging earsH.

The cabinets are distributed to various agencies, and each agency isprovided with a key fitting all the locks 20 of its cabinets. Itoccasionally happens that this key becomes lost and falls into the handsof one who uses it in an unauthorized manner. Under such circumstancesit is necessary that the locks 20 be changed. In this case, with thelock mechanism heretofore known,

other in its stead merely by removing the upper bolts l8 and the upperportion 24 of the cradle. It will be quite apparent that suchimprovements not only eliminate the necessity of discarding the entirecoin controlled lock mechanism, but furthermore, that it makes suchchange an easy and quick matter, entailing no delays in the use of thecabinets.

The cylinder 30 of the coin controlled lock is rotatably mounted in abore 3| in the body member l5 and is provided with a plurality oftumblers 32 slidable vertically into upper and lower recesses 34' and 35opening into the bore, the tumblers normally being in. the down andlocking position when the lock (used for checking) is in the unlockedposition of Figs. 3 and 6. When a coin is inserted, the lock may be re}-tated to locking position by a key 35 and the key may then be removedand carried away as a check, the key being used at some later period toreopen the cabinet and regain the checked parcel. Occasionally ithappens that the tumblers will not fall readily into the recess 35 andthe key may, under such circumstances, be rotated and removed Withouthaving inserted a coin. For the purpose of preventing such unauthorizeduse of the cabinet, I mount a spring 38 on a post 39 and extend one end40 of the spring into a recess 42, the other end of the spring bearingagainst the member I5. The end 4|] of the spring is arranged to bearagainst one of the tumblers and cause it to engage within the recess 35as illustrated in Fig, '7. In orderto facilitate assembling of thetumblers and lock, a shoulder 44 is provided on which the end 40 of thespring may rest during the assembling operation. a Combined with thecoincontrolled lock on the body member I5 is a recorder 45 having awindow 46 through which can be viewed registering members on the rotarycounters 48 therein. A connection '50 from the lock serves to rotate therecording mechanism forwardly one digit at each actuating cycle of thelock, thus recording the number of coins deposited. It is quite apparentthat fraud might be practiced by unauthorized resetting of the recorder,and for this reason no resetting means has heretofore been providedthereon. It will furthermore be apparent, however, that a resettingmeans would be a great convenience, as, for example, when a lock or itsrecorder is removed and transferred to another cabinet and it is desiredto start the same at zero. A further feature of my invention thereforeincludes the provision of a resetting means and further meanscooperating therewith for preventing unauthorized operation thereof.

The rear end of the recorder housing 45 is closed by a screw threadeddisk 52 having a short shaft 53 extending axially therethrough. Theshaft carries a rotating head 54 on its outer end and a disk 56 on itsinner end. Projecting inwardly from the disk are two oppositely disposedpins 51 engaging within holes 58 in the adjacent and units counter 48.It will be apparent that the recorder can be rapidly reset by applying arotating member to the head 54.

As a means of preventing unauthorized use of this resetting mechanism Iprovide a Ushaped housing 60 having two fingers 62 at one end forengaging in corresponding holes 63 in the body member [5 and havingpierced ears 64 for receiving a locking pin 65 therethrough and througha registering hole in the body member 15. A Wire 68 is passed throughthe small end of the pin and the ends are sealed by a metal seal 10. Asillustrated in Fig. 8 one side wall of the housing 60 extends over andcovers the resetting head 54 whereby preventing the application of aturning instrument thereto, and any tampering with the seal or thehousing to gain access to the head for resetting purposes will beclearly detected.

It will now be apparent that I have improved the aforementioned coincontrolled lock mechanisms and rendered them more applicable and moreconvenient tothe purposes for which they are used, and my inventionfurthermore provides for the continued use of portions of the lockmechanism which it has heretofore been necessary to remove and discard.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a coin controlled device of the class described, a body memberadapted to be mounted on and within a parcel checking cabinet, a lockcarried on the body member and operable through a locking-unlockingcycle, a mechanical recorder including a plurality of rotary counterswithin a housing conforming to and closely confining the counters, awindow in the housing through which registering numbers on the countersare visible, a closure for one end of the housing, resetting meansextending through the closure axially of the counters and havingconnection with the adjacent counter, means for actuating the recorderto add one indication thereto at each cycle movement of the lock, anelement remo-vably mounted on the body member in position preventingoperating access to the resetting means, and means preventingunauthorized removal of the element from such position.

2. In a coin controlled device of the class. described, a body memberadapted to be mounted on and within a parcel checking cabinet, a lockcarried by the body member and operable through a locking-unlockingcycle, an accumulating recorder including a plurality of number diskswithin a casing conforming thereto and carried on the body member forindicating the number of lock actuations, means for actuating therecorder to add one indication thereto at each cycle movement of thelock, other means including a rotary stud projecting outwardly through awall of the casing for resetting the disks of the recorder, a U-shapedhousing removably mounted on and straddling the body member in positionpreventing operating access to the stud, and means preventingunauthorized removal of the housing from such position.

GEORGE HOFMANN.

